As I look at the calendar and realize that tomorrow is already the first day of summer, I am overwhelmed with the realization that I have been hibernating way too long. Not hibernating in the sense of living off body fat and sleeping all winter/spring (although that does sound lovely), but instead, have been hibernating creatively. In the midst of a year filled with an awesome book project and some exhausting things at my day-job, I have barely had time or motivation to create illustrations just for fun. And for that reason, I have let my social media sit dormant.

But that changes today! – No more hitting the snooze button, no more feeling lazy and unmotivated, and no more hibernating! I am crawling out of my den and getting back into the fresh air of blog posting. This week, I am creating a piece for Illustration Friday’s topic, “squirrel”.

Now, to make sure I don’t take away too much time away from my projects, I’m just sticking to black and white line art. I do love working in color, but it’s kind of relaxing just sitting and drawing in ink.

So onto my squirrel…

As I brainstormed how I should draw my squirrel and what I should have him doing, I thought back to my childhood and experiences with squirrels. For the most part, I had a pretty squirrel-free childhood – I’d see them running through the yard, fed them some Cheetos at a park, but no major interaction that I could recall. Then I remembered something my mom would always say in the car when we’d see a squirrel running across the road – “I don’t swerve for squirrels.”

Now, to my knowledge, my mom has never hit a squirrel, and I’m pretty sure she has slowed down for numerous squirrels that darted across the roads. The saying was more of a response to my dad’s driving and how he would avoid hitting a squirrel at all costs. So there was my inspiration – squirrels and cars!